Device for cleaning balls



Sept. 4, 1962 R. PARSONS DEVICE FOR CLEANING BALLS Filed July 8, 1960 FIG.3 MEMO:

flag v5) PARSONS FIGZ United States Patent 3,051,979 DEVICE FOR CLEANING BALLS Rodney Parsons, Stoats Nest, Sandy Lane, Kingswood, Surrey, England Filed July 8, 1960, Ser. No. 41,513 Claims priority, application Great Britain July 9, 1959 3 Claims. (Cl. -506) This invention relates to a cleaner for balls, and is particularly concerned with a cleaner for golf balls.

According to the invention there is provided a cleaner for balls, wherein a pair of tongs carries opposed cupshaped cleaning surfaces for receiving the ball to be cleaned.

The ball cleaner of the present invention is particularly useful for cleaning dirty golf balls before driving off.

The tongs are preferably sprung so that the cleaning surfaces will grip the ball, thus enabling the cleaner to be used as a ball carrier. The tongs can be made of synthetic plastic material, or spring steel and in the latter case may be leather covered to give a pleasing finish to the cleaner.

The opposed cup-shaped cleaning surfaces will generally be carried at the ends of the arms of the pair of tongs, and may take a variety of forms. The cleaning surfaces are made of spongy absorbent material, such as natural sponge or foamed synthetic material, so that they can be impregnated with water, or a detergent or other cleansing solution. In this case, it is desirable that the tongs should be so sprung that the cup-shaped cleaning surfaces engage one another and prevent loss of the moisture or the cleansing solution when no ball is held between them.

The cleaning surfaces are attached to cups secured on the ends of the arms of the tongs and the cups are moulded from rubber or synthetic plastic material and secured to the ends of the arms of the tongs.

The cup-shaped cleaning surfaces, when in engagement with a ball to be cleaned should leave a sufficient surface of the ball uncovered to enable the ball to be turned with the fingers of one hand while the tongs are gripped in the other hand.

In order to enable the invention to be more readily understood, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate diagrammatically and by way of example one embodiment thereof, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golf ball cleaner in spread apart condition,

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the cleaner shown in FIG. 1 in a closed position, and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cleaner shown in FIG. 1 when in use.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a cleaner for golf balls comprising a U-shaped tongs member 1 formed from two strips of transparent, resilient synthetic plastic material the outer one of which is formed with a plurality of ribs. The two strips are secured at their edges by hollow headings 2 of a coloured synthetic plastic material containing spring wires. The tongs member 1 is formed with holes 3 through which Ts 4 may be pushed to hold them on the cleaner.

Each end of each arm of the member 1 carries a rubber suction cup 5, each cup having a disc 6 which is slit radially and passed through a hole 7 (FIG. 2) in the end of each arm of the member 1.

Each suction cup 5 has a cup-shaped lining 8 of spongy absorbent material, such as natural sponge, or foamed rubber or synthetic material, and the cupshaped linings 8 are impregnated with a cleansing solution.

One of the discs 6 carries an abrasive disc 9 formed of rubber bristles.

The tongs member 1, being formed of resilient material is in effect sprung, so that when the cleaner is not in use, the cups 5 engage against one another, and by slight pressure may be made to hold one another tightly under suction as shown in FIG. 2, thereby preventing loss of the cleansing solution fro-m the linings 8. When the cleaner is to be used, the suction is broken, and the cups are placed far enough apart to accommodate a golf ball 10 between them as shown in FIG. 3. The golf ball 10 can be held between the finger and thumb of one hand, while the cleaner is held in the other, and rotated within the cup so that the linings 8 clean the golf ball. The abrasive disc 9 may be used for removing obstinate patches of dirt from the golf ball.

While the cleaner has been described as a cleaner for golf balls, it will be appreciated that it can be made in other sizes to accommodate larger balls.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A cleaner for balls, comprising a first arm member, a second arm member substantially parallel with the first arm member, means joining the two arm members, said arm members and said joining means being of a material and construction to permit relative movement of said arm members in directions toward and away from each other, a first resilient suction cup mounted on said first arm member and directed towards said second arm member, a second resilient suction cup mounted on said second arm member and directed towards said first arm member and said first suction cup, said suction cups being adapted to receive the ball to be cleaned and being capable, upon application of slight pressure thereto and in the absence of said ball, of engaging and holding one another under suction, and first and second linings of spongy absorbent material within said first and second suction cups respectively for impregnation with a cleansing liquid for the balls, whereby, when said linings are impregnated with the cleansing liquid and the suction cups engage and hold one another under suction, loss of cleansing liquid is prevented.

2. A cleaner as claimed in claim 1 wherein the arm members are flexible and are sprung inwardly so that the suction cups will grip the ball, thus enabling the cleaner to be used as a ball carrier.

3. A cleaner for balls comprising a first arm member, a second arm member substantially parallel thereto, and means joining the two arm members in such a manner that the two arm members define tongs, a first resilient suction cup carried at the end of the first arm of the tongs and directed towards the second arm member of the tongs, a second resilient suction cup carried at the end of the second arm member of the tongs and directed towards said first arm member of the tongs and said first suction cup, said suction cups being adapted to receive the ball to. be cleaned and being capable, upon application of slight pressure thereto and in the absence of said ball, of engaging and holding one another under suction, the bight of the tongs being dimensioned such that when a ball is held between said cups the edges thereof lie sub- 5 stantially parallel with another and are spaced apart a distance sufficient to enable a ball to be turned therein between the finger and thumb of one hand, and first and second linings of spongy absorbent material Within said first and second suction cups respectively for receiving 10 a cleansing liquid.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Bate June 28, 1921 Aten Nov. 27, 1934 Pink June 22, 1937 Hudson Feb. 13, 1951 Kaplan Oct. 23, 1951 Smith Jan. 13, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain of 1894 

